# Quantum Computers Cross Critical Error Threshold  ## Metadata - Author: [[Ben Brubaker]] - Full Title: Quantum Computers Cross Critical Error Threshold - Category: #articles - Summary: Researchers have found that increasing the number of qubits in a quantum computer can help reduce errors, making the system more reliable. They demonstrated that by using a larger group of physical qubits to create a single logical qubit, the error rates significantly decreased. This breakthrough is a crucial step toward building practical, large-scale quantum computers. - URL: https://www.quantamagazine.org/quantum-computers-cross-critical-error-threshold-20241209/ ## Highlights - How do you construct a perfect machine out of imperfect parts? That’s the central challenge for researchers building quantum computers. The trouble is that their elementary building blocks, called qubits, are exceedingly sensitive to disturbance from the outside world. Today’s prototype quantum computers are too error-prone to do anything useful. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jeqdpz83ng7rxjk2rc0rnw32)) - Now, in a [paper](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08449-y) published today in *Nature*, Newman and his colleagues at Google Quantum AI have finally crossed the threshold. They transformed a group of physical qubits into a single logical qubit, then showed that as they added more physical qubits to the group, the logical qubit’s error rate dropped sharply. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jeqdqy41jtkgc98f07drmat7))